The publication was launched on July 3, 1901, by Clement Shorter, editor of The Sphere. For a time, it was a weekly publication, featuring news and photographs of society balls, charity events, race meet-and-greets, fashion, and gossip.
In 1940, it absorbed The Bystander. In 1961, Illustrated Newspapers, which published Tatler, The Sphere, and The Illustrated London News, was bought by Roy Thomson. In 1965, Tatler was renamed London Life.
